James beady



No Model.) J BRADY & A V BROKHALME- GUARD FOR RAZOR BLADES.

No. 316,731. Patent-ed Apr. 28, 1885'.

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ll'nrTEn fiTATEs PATENT EEreE.

JAMES BRADY, or BROOKLYN, AND ALFRED'V. BROKHAHNE, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

GUARD roe RAZOR-status.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 316,731, dated April28, 1885. Application filed March 10, 1884. (No model.)

and Honing Attachment for Razors, Knives,

&c., of which the following is a specification.

The object of our invention is to provide a simple attachment for knifeor razor blades whereby a sharp-backed hollow-ground razor may bestropped without scraping or injuring the surface of the strop, andwhereby a knifeblade may be easily held or presented at such an angle tothe surface of the hone as will grind a regular and true cutting-edgethereon, and obviate the necessity of skillful manipulation in thisoperation, which is generally necessary to properly sharpen a knife.

To these ends our invention may be briefly stated to consist in a clasp,preferably of semitubular form, adapted to slide or fit over the backedge of the blade, and thus form a rest to contact with the hone, bywhich the back edge of the blade will be raised above the surface of thehone at such an inclination as to present the cutting-edge to the honeat the proper angle for grinding a true cuttingedge thereon. We alsomake the bearing-faces of the clasp or slide smooth or rounding, so thatit will slide or move smoothly over the surface of the hone or strop,and in the case of stroppinga razor will roll down the greased surfaceof the strop, keeping it smooth and compact, and thereby covering andneutralizing the sharp back of hollow-ground razors, which tend toscrape and injure the strop. Our invention therefore consists, mainly,in the features here outlined, and also in some details, as hereinafterfully set forth.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 presents a perspective view of a razorprovided with our improved attachment, and Fig. 2 is a perspective viewof the attachment removed. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an attachmentbetter adapted for honing knife-blades and being flatter incross-section. Fig. 4 gives a cross-section of a razor-blade with ourattachment affixed and resting on a strop, illustrating the action instropping, and Fig. 5 is a cross-section of a knife-blade with theattachment applied resting on the hone to illustrate the action inhoning. a modification.

Referring first to Fig. 1, a indicates the razor-blade, and 1) our novelattachment fitted to the back thereof. The razor-blade, as shown,incommon with almost all other blades, is of wedging form in erosssection,but the sides are usually ground deeply in a concave curve, or what isknown as hollowground, leaving the blade quite thin toward the edge andthick at the back, so that the back frequently has sharp angles on eachcorner thereof, as shown. When the blade is therefore placed upon andmoved along the strop, these sharp angles tend to scrape the surface ofthe strop, so as not only to interfere with the proper stropping actionon the edge of the razor, but also injure the strep. It will be seen,however, that the attachment 1), whichis slid over the back of therazor, covers these sharp angles, and thus neutralizes the same andprovides a smooth rounding surface to rest upon thestrop, as shown inFig 4, and thus completely obviates the objections noted, besidespresenting the cuttingedge to the surface of the strop at a better anglefor stropping, as will be appreciated.

The attachment 1) may be described simply as a split or cleft tube,preferably of sprung brass or steel, and preferably of a round crosssection for razors, as shown well in Figs. 2 and 4, and slightly springyor elastic, and of such a size as will fit tightly over the back edge ofthe razor, so that the attachment is easily applied by sliding itlongitudinally over the back edge of the blade, as shown in Fig. 1, whenthe edges of the cleft tube will tightly embrace the blade, and thusretain the attachment firmly thereon, as will be understood. WVe preferto have one end of the attachment at the edges of the cleft roundedaway, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the end of the razor-back may beentered more easily, as will be under- Figs. 6 and 7 show stood, and theouter end of the tube may have a stop, I), to strike against the tip ofthe blade when the tube is slid fully down thereon, as I shown in Fig.1.

The attachment thus applied to the razor may be left permanently thereonduring the action of shaving as well as of stropping, or

it maybe applied thereto only when the razor is stropped, and removed atother times. The attachment, however, will in no way interfere with theaction in shaving, and hence may be left constantly attached to therazorback. In fact, the attachment may be made a positive assistant inshaving, particularly in the hands of novices in self-shaving, in whichcase the tube or attachment may be rested against and slid over the skinin moving the cutting-edge of the razor against the beard, and

this will present the cutting-edge at a safe angle for shaving andreduce the danger of cutting. To serve this purpose,the tube 1) shouldpreferably be a little thicker or wider diametrically than shown, sothat when the razorblade is placed upon a surface, as in Fig. 4,

the cutting-edge will be presented to the surface at an angle'of aboutfifteen degrees, which is the usual shaving angle, whereas the strop.ping and honing angle is less.

. The special form of the tube in cross-section is not of courseessential, except that it should be of such a form as will fit snugly onthe back of the blade and have rounded corners or bearing-faces, asdescribed, and hence the tube .2, orscalloped, as shown in Fig. 3. Forknifeblades we prefer to make. the tube in a flat dovetailed form, as inFig. 3, with, however, its corners rounded, as shown, and adapted to beslid tightly over the back of the blade and grasp it like a spring-claspin the same manner as described in connection with the razor, as will bereadily comprehended. This tube or clasp for the knife should be of sucha thickness that when applied to the knife-blade, and the blade placedflatly on the hone, as shown in Fig. 5, the edge of the blade will bepresented to the surface of the hone at the proper angle for grinding atrue cutting-edge thereon, said angle being usually about ten degrees.It will therefore be seen that when the blade is fitted with thisattachment and pressed lightly upon the hone, as seen in Fig. 5, andmoved back and forth thereon with the usual honing motion, thecutting-edge will be kept constantly to the hone at the proper anglewithout any special effort of the hand, as heretofore required, thusenabling the blade to, be sharpened to a true edge in a rapid and easymanner without requiring that special skill which, as is well known, iscomparatively rare in persons who attempt to sharpen knives.

This attachment may be, of course, used for any other blades for whichit may be suited, besides for razors and knife-blades, and may be usedeither for honing or stropping, as described.

It is not, of course, necessary that the attachment be made insemi-tubular form at all, although we prefer this, as it may be made ofwire, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, in the form of a spring-clasp to slideover the back of the razor in the same manner and with the same effectas the cleft tube in Fig. 1. In this modification it will be readilyunderstood that the longitudinal wires on each side will embrace thesides of the razor-blade in the same position as the edges of the clefttube in Fig. 1, and these wires will rest upon the surface of the honeor strop, and thus keep the sharp angles of the razor-back out ofcontact therewith.

We are aware that the back and shank of razor-blades have been made of.sheet metal, into which the blade proper slides. also aware that acleft back has been pivoted to the shank end of a thin blade andarranged to swing off the blade when the blade is honed or stropped. Weare also further aware that a thin clasp of sheet metal has been slippedover the blade, so as to cover both sides of the blade, leaving only themere cutting edge exposed between the lips of the clasp. We are alsoaware that a handle has been provided with a clasp adapted to receive aloose blade to be honed; but in this case the clasp does not extend butabout one-half the length of the blade, and hence it would neitherpresent all parts of the edge of the blade uniformly at the proper angleto the hone, nor would it prevent the strop being scratched'by the sharpcorners of the back of the razor. All the de-' vices obviously differfrom our device both in construction and purpose, and we therefore dis-We are claim them, as our device consists, essentially,

of aremovable clasp adapted to firmly fit upon the back of the blade ofan ordinary razor when the same is to be honed or stropped, leaving theedge part exposed, and having a lateral projection from the back of theplate extending along the whole length of the blade to such an extent aswill keep the blade tilted on the strop or hone to the correct angle forits entire length, which is a feature not shown in either of the devicesmentioned, and apurpose not accomplished or sought for by the formerdevices.

What we claim as our invention is- 1. Aremovable attachment adapted tobe secured to the back of an ordinary razor or knife blade, and embracethe same longitudinally, with rounded bearing sides or cornersprojecting laterally from the back of the blade for the whole lengththereof, and adapted to roll or slide smoothly over the surface of astrop or hone, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A removable clasp adapted to be fitted to the back of anordinary-handled knife or razor blade, and to project laterallytherefrom to form a gageor rest for the blade along its whole lengthwhen placed on the hone or strop, and made of such thickness orprojection as will present the edge of the blade at the correctsharpening angle to the surface of the hone or strop, substantially asherein set forth.

